Less than 24 hours after Yu Darvish fell one out short of a perfect game against the Astros, Rangers righthander Alexi Ogando and four relievers combined to strike out 15 while pitching a 4-0 shutout Wednesday afternoon at Minute Maid Park.

Thus the Astros became the first team of the "live ball era" to strike out at least 15 times and fail to score in consecutive games.

And by striking out 43 times total against Texas, the Astros set a major league record for the most K's in the first three games of a season. The 1966 Angels struck out 36 times in their first three games.

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A very large K ration

In a series in which the Astros made 78 outs (they didn't need to bat in the ninth inning of the opener), strikeouts accounted for 43 (or 55 percent) of them. A recounting of their epic flailing:

Game: 1

Inning: 1

P: Matt Harrison

B: Brett Wallace

Game: 1

Inning: 1

P: Matt Harrison

B: Chris Carter

Game: 1

Inning: 2

P: Matt Harrison

B: Carlos Pena

Game: 1

Inning: 2

P: Matt Harrison

B: Jason Castro

Game: 1

Inning: 3

P: Matt Harrison

B: Brandon Barnes

Game: 1

Inning: 4

P: Matt Harrison

B: Chris Carter

Game: 1

Inning: 5

P: Matt Harrison

B: Matt Dominguez

Game: 1

Inning: 5

P: Matt Harrison

B: Brett Wallace

Game: 1

Inning: 6

P: Matt Harrison

B: Carlos Pena

Game: 1

Inning: 6

P: Derek Lowe

B: Ronny Cedeno

Game: 1

Inning: 7

P: Jason Frasor

B: Brett Wallace

Game: 1

Inning: 8

P: Joe Ortiz

B: Carlos Pena

Game: 1

Inning: 8

P: Joe Ortiz

B: Rick Ankiel

Game: 2

Inning: 1

P: Yu Darvish

B: Jose Altuve

Game: 2

Inning: 1

P: Yu Darvish

B: Brett Wallace

Game: 2

Inning: 2

P: Yu Darvish

B: Chris Carter

Game: 2

Inning: 2

P: Yu Darvish

B: Rick Ankiel

Game: 2

Inning: 8

P: Yu Darvish

B: Chris Carter

Game: 2

Inning: 2

P: Yu Darvish

B: Justin Maxwell

Game: 2

Inning: 8

P: Yu Darvish

B: Rick Ankiel

Game: 3

Inning: 5

P: Alexi Ogando

B: Ronny Cedeno

Game: 3

Inning: 4

P: Alexi Ogando

B: Justin Maxwell

Game: 3

Inning: 6

P: Alexi Ogando

B: Brett Wallace

Game: 3

Inning: 5

P: Alexi Ogando

B: Rick Ankiel

Game: 3

Inning: 8

P: Michael Kirkman

B: Brett Wallace

Game: 2

Inning: 3

P: Yu Darvish

B: Marwin Gonzalez

Game: 3

Inning: 8

P: Michael Kirkman

B: Carlos Pena

Game: 2

Inning: 4

P: Yu Darvish

B: Brett Wallace

Game: 2

Inning: 4

P: Yu Darvish

B: Jose Altuve

Game: 2

Inning: 4

P: Yu Darvish

B: Carlos Pena

Game: 2

Inning: 6

P: Yu Darvish

B: Jason Castro

Game: 3

Inning: 3

P: Alexi Ogando

B: Jose Altuve

Game: 2

Inning: 7

P: Yu Darvish

B: Brett Wallace

Game: 3

Inning: 4

P: Alexi Ogando

B: Chris Carter

Game: 3

Inning: 9

P: Joe Nathan

B: Chris Carter

Game: 2

Inning: 9

P: Michael Kirkman

B: J.D. Martinez

Game: 3

Inning: 9

P: Joe Nathan

B: Jason Castro

Game: 2

Inning: 5

P: Yu Darvish

B: Justin Maxwell

Game: 3

Inning: 9

P: Joe Nathan

B: Justin Maxwell

Game: 3

Inning: 2

P: Alexi Ogando

B: Rick Ankiel

Game: 3

Inning: 1

P: Alexi Ogando

B: Carlos Pena

Game: 3

Inning: 1

P: Alexi Ogando

B: Chris Carter

Game: 3

Inning: 2

P: Alexi Ogando

B: Justin Maxwell

= Strikeout; P = Pitcher; B = Batter

Punched out

Most strikeouts in Astros history in three consecutive games:

No. Year Opponent

43 2013 Rangers

40 2012 Cubs, Giants

40 1995 Padres

Note: The Astros stuck out 13 times on Sunday and 15 on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Game recap

Philip Humber had a strong debut at Minute Maid Park, but the Astros fell 4-0 to the Rangers on Wednesday before a crowd of 15,831. In the three-game season-opening series, the Astros struck out 43 times, setting an MLB record.

Big bats: Jose Altuve was 2-for-4 for the Astros. Rangers DH Lance Berkman went 1-for-2 with a double in the eighth that put the Astros in a 2-0 hole.

Starter: Humber was hit hard regularly, but the Rangers' best shots resulted only in long fly outs, and the former Rice Owl allowed just one earned run and five hits in 52⁄3 innings.

Big innings: Texas loaded the bases on Humber in the sixth but got only one run via Nelson Cruz's double-play grounder. Three Rangers runs in the eighth off Hector Ambriz made it 4-0. Astros left fielder Chris Carter kept the inning going when he dropped a soft fly near the foul line.

Friday: A's vs. Astros, 7:10 p.m. at Minute Maid Park.

For the Rangers' pitchers, their 43 strikeouts in the first three games of the season set an MLB record. Cleveland pitchers struck out 42 in their first three games (one against Washington and two against Boston) to start the 1966 season.

"Just a couple of rough games," said Astros designated hitter Carlos Pena, who struck out six times in the first three games. "You just leave it at that. They pitched well. We weren't facing, per se, 'easy pitchers' on the mound.

"These guys are good. It's no secret they have a pretty good pitching staff. Just a couple of rough games. That's where you leave it."

The Astros got a taste of the Rangers' staff in interleague play last season when they struck out 34 times in consecutive games in June. That stretch came after the Astros struck out 40 times in three consecutive games earlier that month, including a perfect game by San Francisco's Matt Cain. The 40 had been the team "record" (matched also by the 1995 team against San Diego) until this season's opening series.

"I'm not really worried about it right now," left fielder Chris Carter said after striking out three times Wednesday while going 0-for-4. "It's early in the season.

"(A.J. Pierzynski is) a veteran catcher back there. As a team, I think he's taking advantage of our aggressiveness, seeing that we're swinging early, and he's putting down a first-pitch slider or off-speed or whatever."

Mixing in his slider and fastball in the early innings before frustrating the Astros with his changeup later, Ogando threw 61⁄3 scoreless innings while giving up four hits and one walk with 10 strikeouts.

Astros starter Philip Humber suffered the loss, giving up one run on five hits with two walks, two strikeouts and one hit batter over 52⁄3 innings before a crowd of 15,831.

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Rangers designated hitter Lance Berkman, who tormented his former team all series, led off the sixth inning against Humber with a four-pitch walk. Adrian Beltre followed with a single to center. David Murphy loaded the bases with a single to right.

Berkman scored on Nelson Cruz's double-play grounder to second, giving the Rangers a 1-0 lead that would be more than enough.

Berkman, who was 1-for-2 with an RBI double and two walks, reached base in nine of his final 12 plate appearances in the series. He drove in the first run of the Rangers' three-run rally in the eighth inning with a double to left-center field.

Although he was 6-for-10 with three RBIs in the series, Berkman was overshadowed by the Rangers' pitching staff.

"I think yesterday (with Darvish) was more about their guy," Astros manager Bo Porter said. "I think today was more about our guys. I think that our guys expanded the zone way too often today.

"And it's something that we need to make an adjustment and do a better job of. Even the fastballs that we had an opportunity to hit in the count, we either fouled them off or didn't put them in play hard."